It started with a game
by TheWayTheFeatherFalls
Summary: After a quiddich match, a very jealous Severus Snape curses James Potter. Everyone is devastated, especially a certain Lily Evans. Lily will go to any lengths to make sure that her secret love is alright. What will happen? Will Lily see James? Will he wake up and see her? And if so, what will become of our favourite Hogwarts couple? Oneshot.


A/N: I wrote this story after reading Revealing the future: The Philosophers Stone by Marauder2184 when Lily visits James in the hospital wing. I love that story so please read it!

"AND THAT WAS A SPECTACULAR CATCH OF THE SNITCH FROM SEEKER JAMES POTTER!" The triumphant voice of Remus Lupin rings out across the grounds of Hogwarts. An almighty eruption of squeals, cheers and screams deafen the population of Hogwarts, but no one cares, all that matters is that their hero, James Potter, has led Griffindor to success for the seventh time. All that matters is that Slytherin has lost, that there will be no way for them to gloat now that their golden prince, their James Potter, has won. The Slytherins are full of dread; now that they, those damn Griffindors, those Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, now that they have a seventh win. One Slytherin sees the victory with more dread than all the others: Severus Snape looks at the triumphant boy with pure hatred in his black endless eyes. He has seen the way that his beautiful ex-best friend Lily Evans looks at him. It's the way he, Severus, looks at Lily. The way his mother used to look at his father. Her gorgeous emerald eyes are full of lust and... love. Time seems to slow down for Severus. He watches James Potter's decent and clocks the red-headed Lily cheering furiously from the stands across the stadium from him. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of students are cheering for James, but he only has eyes for one: Lily. "Oh Lily," Severus thinks, as he watches the love of his life. "Why don't you hate him like you used to? Why can't you see that he is still the same arrogant, bullying, big-headed Potter that we used to hate together?" Without thinking, he rises in the stands, and draws his wand from an inside pocket of his robes. Amidst the groans and yells of the disappointed Slytherins and the ecstatic yelps and cries of the rest of the school, no-one notices the greasy dark-haired boy at the back of the stands, who, with pain in his eyes, silently curses James Potter. Nobody notices him, but what they do notice is when James Potter is suddenly covered in long deep gashes, blood pouring out of them and staining his already scarlet Quiddich robes into an even darker crimson colour. Confident that no one has seen him, Severus Snape slinks silently back to the Slytherin common room.

A collective gasp runs round the stadium, as the students and teachers of Hogwarts are frozen with shock. Only one student seems to be able to move: Lily Evans raises herself as quickly has she can, and quite like Severus only moments ago, raises her wand and points it at at James who has lost hold of his broomstick.

"ESPO MOMENTO!" She cries and instead of falling and landing heavily on the hard grass of the Quiddity Stadium, he floats gently to the ground, and lands there. With another swish of her wand a muggle strecher has been conjured and James is lying apon it. His eyes flicker shut and everyone fear the worst. All this is done within a matter of seconds. Two seconds later Lily is by his side and attempting to seal his deep wounds. Lily realises that only a dark curse could have caused this. "But what? And who?" She wondered silently, as she frantically tries to heal the cuts deep in his body. She glances around the silent stadium and sees the retreating back of one dark haired Slytherin.

"Sepumsempra." Lily whispers, horrified at what her old friend Severus has done.

"Oh Sev, what have you done?"

_**Lily's Diary**_

I paced the length of the heads common room. I hadn't been able to see James since the incident at the Quiddich pitch earlier that day. My best friends Marlene McKinnon, Beatrice Booth, and Beth Abbott had insisted on staying in the heads quarters with me tonight, as I was obviously 'very shaken'. Pffft. Yeah right. I'm just worried about James friggin' Potter because my jealous ex best friend used a dark curse that I'm pretty sure he made up himself to cause harm to and maybe possibly kill his arch enemy aka James Potter aka the guy who I've been in love with since the beginning of seventh year. Yep. That's right. JAMES POTTER. I'm in love with James FRIGGIN' Potter. What is the world coming to?.

_**Later...**_

Okay. I'm doing this. I'm using James' invisibility cloak and I'm going to sneak into the hospital wing and check on James. **I have **to know if he's okay. Marley, Beth and Bea are asleep on the common room sofas, so I'll have to be very quiet. Marley is a very light sleeper so I think I'll go bare foot.

_**10 minutes later...**_

Lily crept out of her room and shut the door as quietly as she could behind her. Creeping silently across the landing to James' room, she stood for a moment and admired the shining bronze plaque mounted on the pale blue door. It read: James Potter Head Boy. Lily didn't know why it fascinated her so much. After all, she had an almost identical one on her pale pink door, except hers read: Lily Evans Head Girl. Bracing herself for the almost inevitable mess that she would encounter, Lily opened the door to James' head boy appartment. Lily stood in the darkened doorway of the forbidden room. According to McGonagall any Head Student found in their counterpart's rooms would be immediately stripped of their title and duties. Lily gulped. Imagine if she was found! The room itself was slightly disappointing; almost identical to hers except hers was done in purple and silver rather than red and gold. Lily hurried to his chest of drawers and opened the first drawer. Right on top was the cloak. A silvery-grey cloak, that when worn makes the wearer invisible. An invisibility cloak. One of the most desired objects in the magical world. Momentarily, Lily wondered where he got the cloak from; maybe it was a family heirloom? Quickly picking it up, impatience growing in her chest, Lily made to leave, before something on the mahogany bedside table caught her eye.

A silver framed photograph faced the massive four poster bed. Lily looked at the magical picture and found herself staring into the emerald eyes of herself. Lily was astounded. James Potter had a picture of her on his bedside table!? Lily studied the photo. In it a red-headed girl with sharp green eyes sat at a table in the great hall. She read something off a bit of parchment, her eyes growing wide. She threw down the parchment and turned, not to the girl on her right, but to the raven-haired, hazel-eyed boy on her left. Squealing, she launched herself at him, and enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. The boy looked shocked to say the least, but after a moment returned the hug with just as much force. Lily remembered that day. That day they had got their NEWTs results, and James' mum had sent each of the Marauders a well done present (even though she hadn't heard the results yet). Sirius' present had been a wizard camera, and he had spent all that morning taking pictures. Lily had got an Outstanding on every single subject she took. "So it's true," Lily thought. "He still loves me!" Through her school years, James Potter and his friends had tormented Lily and her best friend Severus Snape. Her and Severus had fallen out during fith year, when he called her something unforgivable. James Potter had constantly declared his undenying love for her. She refused to go out with him until the beginning of seventh year, when he returned to Hogwarts a changed man. He no longer attacked random students in the hallways and he no longer made fun of Severus (but she didn't care about him anyway). He also stopped asking Lily out, and Lily found she missed it. She missed the constant attention he gave her, but felt she could hardly ask him out after the many times she had rejected him. When he chose to be just 'friends' Lily was heartbroken. "Get a grip Lils," She told herself.

Lily crept out of the bedroom and carefully shut the door. From the couch nearest the glowing embers of the fire came a loud snort and Lily held her breath as she hid in the shadows. Letting out a mewl like a wounded kitten, Marlene turned over on the sofa and let out a soft snore. Lily let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding and carried on to the portrait hole where she slipped the cloak over her body and climbed gracelessly through the entrance.

"Good luck Miss Lily," Lily froze. Slowly she turned on the spot. The shepherdess in the pink pinafore that guarded the Heads rooms was grinned cheekily. "I know you're going to see Mr James in the Hospital Wing. Don't worry-" She added as Lily's face turned from one of curiosity to terror. "Only the portraits can see you with that admirable cloak of James'. The portraits all know you're in love with him anyway so they won't tell on you. Even if they wanted to, you're head girl so you could just say you were doing midnight rounds. No one need know it's Olivia Abbott and Charlie Diggle on duty tonight."

"Thank you Betsy. This means a lot to me." Lily felt tears of gratitude well in her eyes. Betsy smiled sadly.

"I know, Miss Lily. True love is a wonderful thing. I had a lover once." Lily could tell Betsy the shepherdess didn't want to talk about it, so she left her smiling and waving at the entrance to the Heads Rooms.

On her way down to the Hospital Wing, Lily marveled at how quiet and beautiful Hogwarts was at night. Several times Lily had almost been caught by Filtch the caretaker and his cat Mrs Norris; she had run into Mrs Norris on the Charms corridor and hadn't stopped running till she reached the Transfiguration classrooms, two floors below. Even though she had been terrified of being caught by the miserable caretaker and his evil cat, she felt sort of excited, exhilarated even. She supposed that this was the reason for the Maurauders night time escapades. For the first time ever she thought she actually understood what was going through their minds. By the time she had dodged Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Friar happily conversing about the Grey Lady's deathday party; and made many U turns to escape the clutches of Filtch, Lily felt like she had run a marathon, and it was already two o'clock. Finally, after two hours of doging and running, Lily finally arrived at the great double doors of the Hospital Wing. Pulling her wand out of the pocket on her nightgown, she quickly whispered a spell and the doors were silently thrown open. Lily strode into the Wing and started to scan the mostly empty beds lined up neatly along the regulation white hospital walls. Finally she spotted him, in the last bed by the massive window that covered the wall.

"Well at least he has a nice view," Lily thought, always the optimist. But when she saw James' pale, lifeless body, lying on the bed all happy thoughts disappeared from her brain. His skin was deathly pale, as though all the blood had been dripped out of him. Lily felt the cloak slip from her shoulders but didn't try to stop it. His shortsleeved hospital gown revealed long, thin blood red gashes, and his dark ebony hair lay tousled against his white forehead. Lily reached down to pick up the cloak and found that her hands shook as her body shuddered. She wrapped the cloak about her torso, now even more aware that she was still in her long white nightgown. Reaching out a shaking hand she brushed back a lock of ebony hair from his white, sweaty forehead. Unknown to Lily, this gentle movement caused James to wake from his disturbed slumber. Lily looked at James with tears in her eyes. How could someone so strong, so reliable, end up like this? Helpless and completely reliant on Madame Pomfrey. Lily had seen what the Septumsempra curse did to animals; Severus had shown her on a cat he had stolen from a first year. After the cat's wounds had been sealed it was paralysed and died hours later. Lily had been horrifyed, as any human should be, and refused to speak to him for days after. What did he expect, her to be_** impressed**_? Lily didn't know what she would do without James, now that Severus had practially killed him. Lily was almost hysterical at the thought. The injury of James, such a strong and courageous man, pressed Lily to think of the war raging outside the haven of Hogwarts. Once she left the safe walls of Hogwarts, and the protection of Dumbledore, she would leave behind the feeling of being almost accepted despite her blood status, and venture into a world where she would mostly be known as the Mudblood Evans. But that was life, wasn't it? That was the risk of being a muggle born witch or wizard, and she suddenly realised that knowing James Potter wasn't going to change that.

"It's not like we're going to get married or anything, especially if I can't muster enough Griffindor courage to tell him how I feel." Lily thought sadly. This thought brought on a new wave of tears. She moved her hand down from where it rested on his forehead and clasped his clammy hand in her own. James felt the weight leave his head and his hand being clutched tightly by a smaller, softer palm. As he tried to open his eyes against the severe pain that shot through him at this miniture move, he heard a quiet voice whisper his name. It sounded like a voice he knew very well, except, well, it couldn't be. Could it?

"Oh James. What will I do? If I lose you because of some stupid curse Sev hurled at you who will make me muggle hot chocolate and sit me in front of the fire when I'm sad? Who will lend me their owl when I need to send a letter to my sister to ask when her wedding is? Who's shoulder will I cry on when she sends a reply back telling me that I'm not invited? Who will I have a massive food fight with in the kitchenette of the Heads rooms? Although you don't know this, you mean the world to me, you are the world to me, you **are **my world. You colour the pages of my life in, and without you they'll be in black and white. Don't die James, life wouldn't be worth living without you."

James managed to open his eyes a slit, and promptly almost had a heart attack, from the combination of the extreme pain he felt, and the identity of the hand-holder. Lily Evans, the red-headed, emerald-eyed beauty who he'd been fascinated with since first year, besotted with since third year, and in love with since fith. Lily was his drug, he was addicted to her. If he didn't get his daily dose of Lily, if he didn't see her at least once a day, then Merlin forbid the one who asks him if he had seen her that day.

"Hold on, back up a bit," James gritted his teeth and rolled over towards her. He hissed through his teeth and tried to control the pain. His body felt as though it was on fire, and it took all his concentration not to cry out and start sobbing. Lily jumped half a foot in the air, and sat frozen , her tear-tracked face a picture of horror. Her almond shaped eyes were wide with shock.

"You don't mean to say that SNAPE is responsible for this?" Lily nodded, too shocked to speak.

"Oh Merlin, just because he has a picture of me on his bedside table doesn't mean that he still loves me. Merlin I'm such a fool. Now he knows and he'll feel sorry for me, and-and- " Lily thought, fresh tears welling in her eyes and spilling over her lashes. Lily closed her eyes to attempt to stem the tears flowing from her eyes. Ignoring the screaming pain his body was telling him, he gently squeezed the girl's hand.

"You know, you even look beautiful when you cry." Lily shook her head but before she could say anything, James cut in, "Did you really mean what you said earlier?" Lily didn't have to ask what he meant by that so simply nodded her head, tears still trailing down her porcelain cheeks.

"It's okay James, I know you don't love me, don't worry about it, we'll go back to just frien-"

"Lily Evans, for once in your life could you please shut up? You are extremely clever but right now you are so blind. Lily Evans, I have loved you since fith year. Will you out with me?"

"Yes yes yes!" James pressed his lips to hers and they were locked in a kiss full of passion and fire. Carefully, Lily slid into bed beside James and hugged him from behind.

"I have waited so long for this moment," James whispered.

"I know," Lily replied, mumbling into his back. "Can we stay like this forever?"

At exactly seven o'clock the next morning, Madame Pomfrey emerged from her office, and saw the double lump in the bed by the window. Storming over to give the couple a piece of her mind, the matron stopped dead at the sight of the red-headed Lily Evans and the injured James Potter, curled up together. The matron smiled a rare smile and turned to her other patients. A couple more minutes wouldn't hurt, would it?

A/N: Phew, that's finally finished! I didn't actually intend for this to be this long, but I guess I just got a little carried away! Please review because this story took me a while to write and I'm ridiculously proud of it!


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